I am passing this along because it is another good deed done without any self-interest by the Southern Poverty Law Center. I hope you find it so.
Archie

From: Morris Dees

Southern Poverty Law Center

Aug. 30, 2010
Dear Friend,

I'm proud to tell you that we've settled the lawsuit we filed on behalf of Louise Marie Monroe, the widow of a black man who was shot to death by a police officer in Homer, Louisiana.

Bernard Monroe

Earlier this year, we filed a civil suit against the town of Homer, seeking damages for the wrongful death of Bernard Monroe. The 73-year-old retiree was enjoying a family reunion on Feb. 20, 2009, when two white police officers came onto his property. Our suit claimed that the police officers created a volatile situation when they chased Mr. Monroe's son into the family home and shot the young man in the back with a Taser gun.

During the commotion, Mr. Monroe went to check on Louise Marie, his wife of 49 years. As he was climbing his porch stairs, one of the police officers in his home shot him several times through the screen door. Because he had lost his voice to cancer, Mr. Monroe was unable to call out during the incident. The officers said they thought he had a gun; several witnesses said he did not.

The settlement will allow Bernard Monroe's family and the town of Homer to move forward from this terrible tragedy. The town's attorney, Jim Colvin, agrees that the settlement will help heal the community. "The town needs an opportunity to recover from this unfortunate event. This settlement is a key step in that healing process."

Because of the nature of the settlement, I'm not allowed to disclose the amount of the monetary damages, and the town did not admit liability. Both officers have left the police department.

One of Mr. Monroe's family members told me how grateful they all were for the SPLC's help, saying that "everyone we met at the Center was kind and considerate" and that the attorneys were "real people who cared about our family."

But we could never have won justice for Mr. Monroe's widow and family without your support. As you may know, the SPLC takes no portion of the damages we win for our clients. Your dedication to fighting injustice and intolerance enables us to take on cases like this. Please accept my personal thanks for standing with us in this important case and all the other work we do.

Sincerely,

Morris Dees
Founder, Southern Poverty Law Center

You can donate to the Southern Poverty Law Center online.

Or by mail:
Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36104

(For other items in the blog click here.)

Building permit granted

A friend sent this along earlier tonight:

I recently applied for a building permit for a new house.

It was going to be 100 ft tall and 400 ft wide with 9 gun turrets at
various heights and windows all over the place and a loud outside
entertainment sound system. It would have parking for 200 cars and I
was going to paint it dark green with pink trim.

The City Council told me to go to hell.

So I sent in the application again; but this time I called it a Mosque.

Work starts next Monday...

(See full blog here.)

Spies of the Balkans - A novel reviwed

“The Salonika communications unit was at least indoors; having bivouacked in the local school along with other reservists. They’d stacked the chairs against the wall and slept on the floor. Dry, but bored. Each member of the unit had been armed for war by the issue of a blanket, a helmet, and a French Lebel rifle made in 1917. The captain took Zannis aside and said, ‘Ever fire one of these?’

‘No, never.’

‘Too bad. It would be good for you to practice, but we can’t spare the ammunition.’ He chambered a bullet, closed the bolt, and handed the weapon to Zannis. ‘It has a three-round tube. You work the bolt, look through the sight, find an Italian, and pull the trigger. It isn’t complicated.’”

This is one of the grim humorous passages in Alan Furst’s latest historical spy novel, Spies of the Balkans. The story incorporates Mussolini’s strutting invasion of Greece, to demonstrate his power and value to Hitler, but the Greeks drive his divisions back Albania and Hitler has to send his army to Greece.

As the events unfold Costas Zannis, a senior police official who works only special ‘political’ cases, finds himself being drawn into the lives and acts of spies, wives, lovers, and criminals from Turkey, Britain, Germany, and Bulgaria. He cautiously develops an escape route from Berlin to Salonika to Turkey.

The Underground Railroad in America, an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by black slaves to escape to free states and Canada between 1850 and 1860, was a piece of cake compared to creating escape routes for Jews and others important to the Allies from Nazi Germany and the Gestapo. Being caught on the run in Europe meant death for those fleeing and anyone who helped them. Yet there were those who fled and those who stepped up to rescue them. Zannis is one of these rescuers and his actions put him on the Gestapo’s list of scores to settle.

Spies of the Balkans takes the reader on a suspenseful journey through the labyrinth of Eastern Europe in 1939-1940 and keeps the tension at a maximum peak as the Germans march into Greece. With all other routes closed Zannis reaches the Turkish border where, because he lacks a visa, he is told, “You will return to Greece.”

This is the 11th historical novel written by Alan Furst centered on spies, intelligence operations and ordinary people during the pivotal years 1933-1945. I have read them all and consider this one as enjoyable and engaging as the first one and all the others. His novels have been translated into seventeen languages.

(Furst, Alan, Spies of the Balkans, Random House, New York, 268 pages.)

(For the complete blog click here.)

Intensify the fight against Alzheimer's

Dear friends,

Alzheimer's disease steals the future from millions of Americans. It robs spouses of their companions and children of their parents and grandparents; it erodes the health and financial resources of caregivers.

I just signed a petition calling on Congress to make Alzheimer's disease a national priority. Will you add your voice?

http://www.alz.org/petition

Your signature will be delivered to Congress on September 21, 2010 World Alzheimer's Day.

Together, we can make Alzheimer's a national priority.

Thank you.

Archie
(For the complete blog click here)

How Millennial R U?

On a Sunday morning when it continues to rain as it has since long before dawn I went to the Pew Research Center and looked at a few studies and issues currently under scrutiny. Among these was a short quiz, How Millennial Are You?
The quiz measures how much the quiz taker has in common with the Millennial generation, i.e those born since 1981. It also measures your standing with other groups: Silent generation (born 1928-1945), baby boomer (1946-1964), gen Xer (1965-1980).
I scored 52 which put me closer to the Millennial generation than any other group. My basic group, based on date of birth, would have been the silent generation and I was separated by 48 points from that group. The Pew researchers conclude that the higher your score, the more you have in common with the Millennial generation.
Who is to say if this is all good or bad one way or the other, but it does make me feel good to realize I am closer to the generation which will carve our future than tied to the past.
I also took the Science Knowledge Quiz and answered only eight out of twelve questions correctly. This tells me I need to spend more time watching PBS than HBO.
(To tour the complete blog click here.)

Death toll - Letter to the Editor

Published: August 11, 2010

July 31, 2010

Letters to the Editor
The Post & Courier
Charleston SC

Dear Sirs:

It is more important to keep the total cost of American lives lost in Afghanistan before the American people than it is to report the total number of failed banks in the U.S. this year.
The recent Associated Press story (Sat. July 31) "'Tough fighting' takes toll" shed light on monthly figures of servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan since the end of February but did not report how many brave American men and women (and other coalition forces) have been killed in this nine-year war.
Elsewhere in the paper it was reported that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. had a day earlier seized 3 more banks and that brought to a total of 106 banks which have failed in 2010.
I acknowledge it is highly likely, as the AP reported, "the rise in causalities is likely to erode support for the war in Washington and the capitals of the 45 other countries that provide troops" in Afghanistan. This happened in the Vietnam War. So be it. We at home need to constantly have before us the terrible cost of this nine-year war. Otherwise it will go on and on.

Sincerely,

/s/Francis X. Archibald

Click here for the entire blog.

Readers' responses

Sometimes I get responses to a blog entry so fast it makes me think I touched a sensitive nerve. Such was the case on Sunday, August 6, when I blogged against some lawmakers expressing an inclination to change the Constitution (see below)to deny citizenship to children born in the United States of parents who are illegal immigrants. These were some of the early comments, in agreement with and opposed to my views, including a boilerplate response from Senator Lindsey Graham, (R-SC). (References to the baby refer to the picture which accompanied the blog entry. I alternated the typeface to make it easier to read.)

I am p....d off at Lindsay Graham also. I think he is a blockhead for supporting Kagan.
(Semi-retired businessman in Virginia.)

Just a quick line to applaud your latest. I spent an hour last night trying to prove Obama was born in the U.S. I always try to remember what my Dad use to say "sometimes the best revenge is to leave them stupid." Hang in there pal.
(SC Businessman)

I hope you sent this to those chowder heads!!
(Retired SC physician)

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate the opportunity to hear from you.
In spite of the high volume of mail I receive daily, I look forward to reviewing your correspondence and providing a personal response as soon as possible.
As we continue our work in the 111th Congress, I look forward to supporting our troops in the War on Terror, repairing our economy and creating jobs, strengthening Social Security, lowering the tax burden on American families, and making the federal government more accountable and efficient.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of further assistance to you or your family, and if you need immediate assistance, please call my office at 202-224-5972. If your correspondence pertains to a scheduling request, please fax your request to (202) 224-3808.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Graham (U.S. Senator)

I am P......d too! Loved the PHOTO! Keep your COOL... (SC Lady)

Thanks again for your views and comments. I agree with you completely. I like the photo!
(Retired SC man)

If they are the children of illegal immigrants. they are illegal ,also. And I'm totally exasperated with that blockhead, Obama, who is burdening our children, grandchildren and ,probably, great, great, great grandchildren with enormous debt. I'm p****d off, too!!!!!!!!!!!!
(SC Lady)

Could not agree more. Lindsey Graham has made some courageous decisions to cross party lines but in this case I think he is simply seeking a gimmick to pander to the right. Love that baby!
(SC Lady)

Welcome to the club. All the guys you named should be out on the street as far as I am concerned, especially Graham. P.S. Moreover, I think this jerk pictures himself as President!
(Former federal employee)

Well, there ARE those of us who are NOT "blockhead" (I AM, after all, an ex-cop who feels just as strongly about cop killers and the like) but remain equally as pissed off at this "INVASION" of illegals into our...OUR...sovereign nation! Just because our gutless, inside-the-beltway, totally PC'd, so-called leaders (on both sides of the aisle) refuse to do what it'll take to stop this tidal wave of immigrants flooding over the border, doesn't (shouldn't) mean we cannot WISELY, in my view, amend things such that by sneaking across our border to "drop a kid" no longer REWARDS these illegals with granting their newborn fetuses with automatic, constitutionally protected US citizenship! That's NONSENSE and absolutely NOT in the spirit of what our Founding Fathers had in mind nor could've possibly foreseen the times we now face. The drain on our economy (ask California), the effect on our diminishing culture ("press one for English, two for SPANISH!!!), not to mention the dangerous ease of passage for WHOEVER wants to jump aboard this American bandwagon - - be their intentions good or evil (even draconian) - - is one of the biggest threats we face in my opinion. We OWE our children and grandchildren better...much better...than what we're leaving behind.
Just another point of view...from one who's actually made hundreds and hundreds of felony arrests in his day of the other criminal filth in this country you rightfully mentioned. There are American citizens down near the border, on US soil, being slaughtered by illegals involved with the Mexican drug cartels...I care more about THEM and THEIR constitutional rights than I do ANY of these ILLEGALS, who show none of us an ounce of respect nor regard for our sovereignty...and then laugh at us by hiding behind such an out-of-step, antiquated law and DEMAND their "rights???" That's crap and WHY the Founding Fathers established the process to amend things in the first place.
So, I do not consider as "blockheads" those you mention just because they wish to address - - LEGALLY - - an ever growing, serious problem!
(Retired federal employee)

I am totally exasperated with SC Senator Lindsey Graham. Yes, and just when he was about to get on my good side for supporting Elena Kagan! If we want to punish evil doers let's start with some real, honest-to-God criminals and not pick on new-born babies simply because moma and papa came across the Rio Grande to cut lawns in Southern California, wash dishes at Aspen, Colorado or pick tomatoes in South Carolina. What the h@^l makes us think it's "our" country, anyway - just because we had the good sense to pick 'mericans for parents? And . . . .if we could bother to send some agricultural, educational, economic and health care foreign aid to countries that really need it (not talking bombs and guns here), most people would be happy staying where they are, if there was a way to have a meaningful life!
Yeesh!
(A SC Lady in the ministry)

That's the problem that RR, GB 1, and GB 2 left us who care about exploitation, justice, and mercy. The Democrats cannot ignore those problems just because the Republicans care to. All of us have quite a few tigers by the tail. I, for one, sure as hell don't have the answer. It seems to me there a’int no quick fix.
(Retired college president)

This little baby expresses my sentiments exactly!!!
(Graduate of my High School)

(See the complete blog here.)

I am p****d off!

I am totally exasperated with SC Senator Lindsey Graham, John McCain and the other blockheads for even thinking about changing the Constitution of the United States to deny citizenship to children born in this country to parents who are illegal immigrants.
Is it because they want to punish lawbreakers and lawbreaking? There is no question illegal immigrants are breaking the law? Here's a surprise. The penalty for such lawbreaking is six months for a first offense and two years for subsequent offenses.
If we are going to punish people for breaking the law let's start with some real SOBs: murderers, cop killers, burglars, rapists and the white collar criminals who steal people's retirement and wreck havoc through their shady dealings. Let's deny citizenship to the off-spring of these criminals. That will cut down on crime about as much as denying citizenship to the baby born of illegal immigrants will cut down on the number of illegal immigrants.
If we want to punish evil doers let's start with some real, honest-to-God criminals and not pick on new-born babies simply because moma and papa came across the Rio Grande to cut lawns in Southern California, wash dishes at Aspen, Colorado or pick tomatoes in South Carolina.
Get some damn common sense, Lindsey and John and the rest of you bloating blockheads.
I am p****d off!.